Food & Drink

Chocolate Cupcakes for Halloween!

Anne Byrn, bestselling author of The Cake Mix Doctor and The Cake Mix Doctor Returns (among many others!) offers some great advice on creating a homemade Halloween treat:

Bake chocolate cupcakes and prepare a plain buttercream or cream cheese frosting. Tint the frosting orange. Take a tube of black or brown frosting and pipe out a spooky face or a big jack-o’-lantern smile on each cupcake. Or do as my daughter Litton did at a recent Halloween and arrange the orange cup-cakes on a big platter in the shape of a pumpkin. She piped a pumpkin face over the cupcakes and with a green icing tube piped out the stem at the top.

We’ve pulled Anne’s recipes for German Chocolate Cupcakes and Buttercream Frosting from The Cake Mix Doctor Returns so you can try this at home!

Chocolate Cupcakes for Halloween!

Yield: 22 to 24 cupcakes (2½ inches in diameter)

INGREDIENTS

24 paper liners for cupcake pans (2½-inch size)
1 bar (4 ounces) German’s sweet chocolate (see Note)
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain German chocolate cake mix
3 tablespoons vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream, or 1 cup buttermilk
½ cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Buttercream Frosting:

4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 to 3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners and set the pans aside.
Grate the chocolate bar: Break the bar into pieces and drop them, one at a time, through the feed tube of a food processor while it is running. Or, carefully rub the chocolate bar with a hand-held coarse cheese grater, such as a Microplane. Set the grated chocolate aside.
Place the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream or buttermilk, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 1½ to 2 minutes longer, scraping down the side of the bowl again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Fold in the grated chocolate.
Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup of cupcake batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.)
Place the pans in the oven and bake the cupcakes until the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger, 19 to 23 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of the cupcake cups, lift the cupcakes up from the bottom of the pans using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the pans carefully with your fingertips. Place the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes longer before frosting.
Meanwhile, make the buttercream frosting: Place the butter in a medium-size bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons of the milk a bit at a time, beating with the mixer on low speed until the confectioners’ sugar is well incorporated, 1 minute. Add the vanilla, then increase the mixer speed to medium and beat the frosting until it is light and fluffy, 1 minute longer. Add up to 1 tablespoon more milk if the frosting seems too stiff.
Spoon a heaping tablespoon of frosting on top of each cup-cake and spread it out with a short metal spatula or spoon, taking care to cover the top completely. The cupcakes are then ready to serve.

Keep It Fresh! Store these cupcakes, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temperature for one day or for up to one week in the refrigerator. Freeze the cupcakes, in a cake saver or wrapped in aluminum foil, for up to three months. Let the cupcakes thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Note: You may omit the German’s chocolate if you like. Or, you can substitute 1 cup of miniature semisweet chocolate chips for the grated German’s chocolate.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Makes: 3½ cups, enough to frost a 2- or 3-layer cake

INGREDIENTS

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

Place the butter in a medium-size bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners’ sugar, and 3 tablespoons of the milk, a bit at a time, beating with the mixer on low speed until the confectioner’s sugar is well incorporated, 1 minute. Add the vanilla, then increase the mixer speed to medium and beat the frosting until it is light and fluffy, 1 minute longer. Add up to 1 tablespoon more milk if the frosting seems too stiff.

To frost 24 cupcakes, use:

4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 to 3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

The Cake Mix Doctor Returns!
by Anne Byrn

Anne Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor began its extraordinary run as one of the most popular baking books of all time. Now Anne Byrn is back with the Cake Mix Doctor Returns!

Here are 160 brand-new recipes—that’s right, 160 amazing cake mix recipes—for luscious layer cakes, sheet cakes, brownies, bars, cookies, and more.

This month only—save 81%!